Families facing anxious wait after NHS blunder over organ donors

AN URGENT review has been ordered after an NHS blunder in which the wrong organs may have been taken from donors.

• More people are signing up as organ donors, although they are often specific about which body parts can or can't be used

About 800,000 people may have had their wishes about the use of their organs wrongly recorded because of the error.

An investigation by NHS Blood and Transplant found that 45 individuals for whom false data could have been stored have since died.

The NHS is now contacting 21 families who allowed organs to be taken after potentially being misinformed about what consent had been given by their loved ones.

Campaigns have been launched to encourage more people to sign up as donors in Scotland.

Scotland has seen a 15.2 per cent increase in the number of transplants since 2007, and the country also has the highest proportion of people registered to be donors in the UK, with 32 per cent of the population signed up.

As part of the NHS Organ Donor Register, those who join can give permission for any of their organs to be taken, or provide more specific agreements.

Many donors have strong views about what can be taken and often consent is not given for eyes to be removed, or parts to be used in medical research.

But these distinctions were accidentally deleted in 1999, when details held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency – which includes a request for consent in applications for a driving licence – were transferred to the registry.

The mistake came to light last year when NHS Blood and Transplant wrote letters to new donors thanking them for joining the register, and outlining what they had agreed to donate. Respondents wrote back complaining that the information was wrong.

After detecting the error, NHS Blood and Transplant was able to correct 400,000 of the flawed records.

But hundreds of thousands more people are due to be contacted shortly and asked to confirm what consent was given.

Until fresh consent is obtained, organs will not be taken from these people if they die.

It is illegal to remove organs without prior consent from the person, or their next of kin.

In the cases where errors were made, families are believed to have been asked for permission, but their decisions may have been based on misinformation about their relative's wishes.

In a statement NHS Blood and Transplant said: "There are a small number of cases, 21 over the past six years, where the person has died and their preferences may not have been correctly recorded. In each case the family gave permission for the donation to take place, but it may not have been in line with the individual's preferences."

UK government Health Secretary Andy Burnham expressed his concern at the error.

"I have asked Professor Sir Gordon Duff of Sheffield University to carry out a review to find out why this has happened, prevent mistakes like this being made again and ensure all necessary steps are taken to maintain confidence in the organ donor register," he said.

Joyce Robins, of pressure group Patient Concern, said: "This government has got an absolutely dreadful record when it comes to data, but it is absolutely horrific that such sensitive details were handled in such a careless way."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We understand an urgent investigation is underway and we are being kept informed of the situation. Scotland will be fully involved in any review to ensure that if there are any cases in Scotland we are able to work with the families of those affected."